11 replies to this topic

[chrisguyw]

This started as a MRRC Matra MS10, and was built for an upcoming proxy series in England for 1968 GP cars.

 

The MRRC version, although capturing the look quite well, is a little on the "clunky" side, with the engine/trans. being absolutely massive!! I had to do a fair bit of sanding/filing/remodelling in order to make it look passable, and replaced many parts with either scratchbuilt or parts box pieces.

 

There are many inaccuracies on the car, (purists, no need to jump on me) but, due to time constraints, and the fact that it is going to be raced at several venues, I erred on the side of robustness versus scale accuracy, e.g., the car ran with the wing mirrors mounted on aluminum brackets attached to the bodywork... not the best for longevity in a proxy race, so I mounted them on the windscreen. As well as being much stronger, the mirrors hid the little cutouts (for the ugly stock mirrors) on the MRRC screen.

 

 

 

The chassis is a fairly straightforward "flexiboard" design, and has ended up being powered by a FF050 motor.

 

The initial powerplant was to be a modified Mashima M920 train motor (half the size of the FF050), with cobalt magnets and a mild wind HO arm from Wizzard. After building a couple, I was not convinced of the longevity, so the FF050 was installed. (The tracks are not huge... 50/90 feet so I won't be handicapped on the power front.)

 

This is my first proxy entry (entered with some trepidation I must admit)... hopefully I won't have too much to repair on its return.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris Walker

 

 

[Mbloes]

Beautiful car and beautiful chassis.

 

And I'm going through your photobucket right now and checking out the rest of your cars.

[TSR]

This is truly a superb model, congratulations on something really nice.

J.P.B. was my first "driving instructor" when I was only fifteen years old. Beltoise taught me about trail braking and had firgured it out years before any other racing driver did. At the time Beltoise was a six-time French motorcycle road-racing champion and this was before the terrible car-racing accident at the Reims Twelve-Hour, that made his left arm useless. Once healed, he drove with only one arm and progressed from F3 to F2 then to F1 with the MATRA-Elf company. He was brilliant the whole time, eventually moving to BRM for which he convincingly won the Monaco GP in pouring rain, humbling even rain masters Jacky Ickx and Jackie Stewart. Beltoise was the spark that lit French racing enthusiasts and with the financial help of the Elf petroleum company, generated a brilliant line of F1 drivers, Jarier, Jaussaud, Arnoux, Jabouille, Depailler, Pironi, Tambay, etc. At one time in the 1970s, more than half the field on F1 grid were French drivers. In the early 2000s through terrible management, Elf was pulled out of most racing activities and today, the closest thing to a Frenchman on F1 grids is... Swiss. What a pity.

 

The MS10 chassis was an evolution of the MS5 used in F2, the best of its era. MATRA desperately wanted to use its own V12 for the car, but it was not ready in time and they put a DFV in the car, which immediately dominated with Jackie Stewart and Beltoise. One the V12 replaced the British V8, it was all over for MATRA and they never won a Grand Prix with it, despite that Beltoise and later, Chris Amon, came damn close.

 

The MS10 was followed by the fabulous MS80, that gave Stewart a world championship, but made obsolete by new fuel tankage regulations for 1970.

 

I did all the prep work for a 1/24-scale kit of it for my employer at the time, but it was never issued because MATRA wanted a model of the later car with the V12.

 

 

[chrisguyw]

A side shot... and the little bleeds on JP's helmet stripe (in previous pics) have been fixed



Cheers
Chris Walker

[TSR]

JPB in 1961 on an Itom 50cc, when he won his first Champion de France title on the tiddler, while also driving a 500cc Matchless with the same talent:

 

JPB with the unruly MS10 fitted with the boat-anchor V12 at Monaco in 1968:

 

[TSR]

And yes, he eventually lost the beast and crashed.  Only five of the 16 starters completed that race...

[Mbloes]

Chris, if I may ask, what type of wheels and tires are you using?

[chrisguyw]

Hi Mike,

The wheels are the RSSlotracing 13" (7mm.) wide, available from Electric Dreams. The front tires I dug up out of the parts bin and the rears are Ortmann repros for the 1/32 Cox Cheetah/Ford GT. I am not sure if Electric Dreams carries the tires, but they are available from RSSlot. The inserts are Lola T70 six-spokes... not perfect, but, with a little paint, only a blind man could tell.
 
Cheers,

Chris Walker

[TSR]

The Ortmann tires are carried by Electric Dreams as well as the great Ortmann decals.

[gascarnut]

 

 

JPB with the unruly MS10 fitted with the boat-anchor V12 at Monaco in 1968:

 

 

 

I believe the V12 car was designated MS11, not MS10.

[TSR]

Yes, you are correct, both were modified MS5 tubs with larger fuel tanks...
 

[TSR]

The first of two MS11 built was made from the recycled MS5 F2 chassis used by Johnny Servoz-Gavin in 1967, the second from the MS5 tub used by Joe Schlesser.
I am sitting here in 1967 in that very MS5, that became Henri Pescarolo's F1 car with a longer wheelbase because he is so tall!

 

 

Here is a technical sheet on the MS11. The extra fuel was contained in aluminum tanks above the driver's legs and behind the driver's seat. No fuel cells then...